Shams Charanis, Tess DeMeyer, Jovan Buha, John Hollinger
LeBron James is set to sign a two-year, $104 million max contract to return to the Los Angeles Lakers, league sources confirmed Wednesday. James will have a player option and no-trade clause for next summer, the sources said.
Athletic It was previously reported that James plans to opt out of his $51.4 million player option for next season.
It’s no secret that both James and Anthony Davis want to significantly strengthen the Lakers’ roster. According to agent Rich Paul, LeBron was even willing to take a big pay cut to facilitate a worthy mid-level player exception contract that wouldn’t pay the tax. But that didn’t happen, and James ultimately agreed to a two-year max contract with a player option for the second year, agent Rich Paul said. Athletic Shams Charania.
As time goes on, and as trades are made elsewhere, it’s getting a little harder to upgrade the Lakers’ roster.
In the three days of free agency — and actually since they finally acquired three tradeable draft picks last Wednesday — the Lakers have made no significant moves other than re-signing Max Christie to a four-year, $32 million deal, and with only a few days until Summer League, the Lakers have yet to hire a team of assistant coaches around JJ Redick.
It’s not for a lack of trying. The Lakers made an aggressive push for Klay Thompson, but he turned down a contract extension and a big offer from the Lakers to join the Dallas Mavericks, according to league sources. Now the Lakers have their eye on DeMar DeRozan, but the Miami Heat are considered a slight favorite to acquire the six-time All-Star with a 15-year career, according to league sources.
The Lakers have also been active on the trade market. Athletic Reports on Tuesday said the Lakers have recently held trade talks with teams including Portland, Brooklyn and Utah.
“We’re always going to be proactive in upgrading our roster and continually look at what we can do,” vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka said. “This season is really about being mindful of anything we can work on to improve our roster, so we’re in the middle of that right now. This will continue over the next few days and will spill over into Las Vegas where all the GMs are meeting and other deals are being made, but we’re staying proactive.”
If James re-signs, the Lakers’ roster will be at a league-high 15. The Lakers will receive $190 million in guaranteed salary, $1.1 million over their $188.9 million second apron, limiting the team’s further moves.
The new deal comes on the heels of news that James’ son, Bronny, who was drafted 55th overall by the Lakers last month, signed a four-year, $7.9 million rookie contract with the Lakers, per league sources, with a team option for the fourth year.
LeBron has long expressed a desire to play professionally with the 19-year-old Bronny, famously saying: Athletic “I plan on playing my final year in the NBA alongside my son” in 2022. The superstar forward amended that thinking in 2023, telling ESPN that playing with Bronny “in the same uniform or against him” would also be a goal.
If it wasn’t already clear, the Lakers would need to give up some players and might have to pay second-round picks to a team like the Pistons or Jazz to acquire them.
The simplest route would be for LA to move Christian Wood and Cam Reddish elsewhere, re-sign Taurean Prince for up to $5.5 million and have 14 players on the second apron.
But to get a player like DeMar DeRozan under the non-taxpayer midlevel exception, the Lakers would likely need to offer a bigger contract, like Gabe Vincent, Rui Hachimura or D’Angelo Russell. Max Christie’s new contract still remains a thorn in the side of the Lakers, taking up an estimated $7.2 million on their cap sheet.
A strange rule in the NBA salary cap known as the “38-plus rule” meant Los Angeles could not offer James, who turns 40 on Dec. 30, a contract for more than three years.
In his six seasons with the Lakers, James averaged 27.0 points per game during the regular season and scored 9,436 of his NBA-record 40,474 career regular season points. In his four playoff games with Los Angeles, he averaged 26.1 points per game and led the Lakers to the NBA title in 2020.
The Lakers went 47-35 last season but were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Denver Nuggets.
James is a 20-time All-Star, four-time MVP and four-time Finals MVP. This season marks his seventh season with the franchise, tying his first seven years with the Cleveland Cavaliers for the longest consecutive stints with any team in his career.
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